Governing Global Finance The Evolution and Reform of the International Financial Architecture

Governing Global Financeexamines the evolution of financial globalization and the attempts that have been made at the international level to establish a system of global financial governance (i.e. the international financial architecture) to safeguard the functioning of the international financial system. It explains how the international financial architecture has come to take the form that it has, and why it was unable to prevent the recent global financial crisis. The book considers a number of reforms that have been proposed to minimize the risk of future financial crises, as well as others that need to be implemented.

Anthony Elson is an international economic consultant and university lecturer in the Washington, DC area. For a number of years, he was a senior staff member of the International Monetary Fund, and more recently has been a senior consultant with the World Bank. In his current capacity, Elson has published several articles on international financial issues, and has taught courses on global financial governance and comparative economic development at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University, the Sanford School of Public Policy of Duke University, and Yale University. During 2008-09, he was the ENI Professor of International Economics at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Bologna Center, where the work on this book was initiated.

"In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, reform of the international financial architecture is a high priority. Anthony Elson provides a detailed evaluation of global financial institutions from both contemporary and historical perspectives and lays out a compelling vision of how these institutions need to be reformed to promote global financial stability." - Eswar Prasad, Tolani Senior Professor of Trade Policy, Dyson School, Cornell University and Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

"This remarkably accessible book provides a clear, intellectually vigorous, and multidisciplinarysynthesis of global financial history, and identifies the key principles on which to rebuild a sustainable international financial system." - Francis Lethem, Director, Duke Center for International Development

"There are many challenges in shaping a collective governance framework for the global financial system centered in the policy-making authority of nation states. Anthony Elson provides a wonderfully accessible treatment of the complex issues involved and skillfully maps the contours of a debate on the way forward. This is highly-recommended reading for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in global governance." - Domenico Lombardi, President, The Oxford Institute for Economic Policy

"Anthony Elson takes us through the evolution of the 'global financial order' in the post-war period, underscores its strengths and weaknesses, and offers a framework for reform in the future. He injects a healthy dose of practical insight that only an IMF-veteran like himself could do. An excellent read for both experts and neophytes." - Michael G. Plummer, Head, Development Division, OECD

"Elson offers a clear historical exposition of the evolution of the modern international financial system and its regulatory architecture. While underlining the importance of global financial markets, he highlights the strengths and weaknesses of their governance structure and suggests possible paths for its improvement." - Gordon M. Bodnar, Professor, Johns Hopkins University

"Drawing on his experience as a senior adviser at the International Monetary Fund, Elson describes and assesses the international financial architecture - not simply the relations among national monetary authorities but also the whole set of official and quasi-official bodies and conventions charged with overseeing cross-border financial transactions. The book recounts past international financial crises, including the most recent one, and tracks the evolution of thinking about how to respond to them, especially since the debt crisis of the 1980s. The 2008 financial crisis, Elson argues, revealed the international financial system's woeful inability to anticipate breakdowns and minimize their damage. He makes a host of recommendations, some controversial, including imposing a tax on the nondeposit liabilities of systemically important financial institutions, to discourage them from excessively risky leveraging." - Richard N. Cooper, Foreign Affairs

'This welcome book provides a thoughtful retrospective, beginning with the history of the early 1980s and late 1990s, and the ways that the system has influenced as a result—perhaps coincidentally keeping many emerging market countries out of the latest global conflagration.' - Professor Ingo Walter, Stern School of Business, CHOICE